The installation version of The Good life (a guided tour), a video by Katleen Vermeir and Ronny Heiremans will be presented at Videonale 13 in the Kunstmuseum Bonn (14 April – 29 May). A second Flemish Videonale entry is Storyteller by Nicolas Provost. For the fest’s 13th edition, programmers screened over 1,700 submissions this year and invited around 50 artists for its official programme.
The Good Life was commissioned by the Arnolfini in Bristol, one of Europe’s leading centres for the contemporary Arts. The experimental film also screened at prestigious venues such as the Parisian Centre Pompidou (Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin/Madrid) and the Frankfurter Kunstverein (exhibition ‘Notions of the Artist’).
In The Good Life a smartly dressed lady is guiding a group of people around a series of pristine white spaces. Along the way she not only comments on the art but also reveals the building to her audience from a unique perspective. Describing interiors, great views and the city’s vibrant opportunities, the lady turns out to be an estate agent who is selling an up-market architectural proposal and a lifestyle that grafts the ‘value’ of art with its institutions. Meanwhile the future development projects itself into the group’s collective imagination, fed by the visionary architectural model on display.
Brussels-based artists Katleen Vermeir and Ronny Heiremans create videos and installations that examine the dynamic relation between art, architecture and economy, and its mediation in private in public spheres.
Nicolas Provost will screen his short Storyteller. Provost has established an international reputation with exhibitions at venues such as the Haunch of Venison and screenings at filmfests such as the Berlinale. The Videonale describes his film as ‘a mesmerizing visual trip through the world of the neon jungle. […], Provost continuously ‘sculpts’ a futuristic reality. Working with a relatively simple technique, the artist manages to process the images, reaching a certain level of abstraction. The viewer is hypnotized by the continuous flow of flickering images of this capital of nightlife. […] Storyteller is a silent film, which only enhances its ‘cosmic’ perception and adds to the meditative effect of the work – a fantastic kaleidoscope of beautiful images.’
The Good Life (a guided tour) was made possible with support of a.o. The Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF) through its FilmLab funding scheme. Storyteller was directed and produced by Nicolas Provost, the director is currently working on a VAF funded debut feature The Invader.